Stolen Car Check: Is the Car Reported Stolen?
A stolen car is seized and returned to its owner, and the buyer is rarely compensated. Find out whether the car is recorded as stolen before you hand over any money.
What happens if you buy a stolen car
Paying for a stolen car in good faith does not make it yours. It remains the property of the person it was taken from, and when it is identified it is seized and returned to them.
Your claim is against the seller, who by then is usually unreachable. That is why the check is worth doing even when the car and the seller both seem entirely ordinary.
How stolen cars are recorded
When a car is reported stolen to police in Australia, the report is recorded against the vehicle and shared between the states, so a car stolen in one state is flagged in another.
A search by the vehicle's identifier finds that record wherever it was made. It takes about a minute, and it is the cheapest thing you can do before handing over a deposit.
How to check if a car is stolen
Three steps, about a minute:
- Enter the registration and state, or the VIN, and see which vehicle it is, free.
- Pay $5.95 for the search, which also covers money owing and write-offs, with the official certificate.
- Read the VIN off the car itself and match it to the certificate. Checking the VIN in the ad, rather than the one on the car, is how this check most often gets defeated.
Is there a free stolen car check?
Not a national one. A state's free rego check may show that a plate is cancelled, but it does not query national stolen records. The stolen status comes back with a PPSR search, $5.95 here by rego. Seeing which vehicle a plate belongs to costs nothing.
Signs worth pausing on
Even with a clear result, walk away or ask questions if you see:
- A plate that looks disturbed, or a VIN that has been altered or is unreadable.
- Paperwork in a name that is not the seller's.
- A seller who will not meet at the address on the registration.
- A price well below what the same car sells for elsewhere.
What you get for $5.95
- Vehicle identity
- Money owing check
- Written-off status, with the damage detail
- Stolen check
- Registration details
- Official PPSR certificate (PDF)
- Plain-English verdict
Common questions
- How do I check if a car is stolen in Australia?
- Search it by rego or VIN here. The search returns whether the car is recorded as stolen anywhere in Australia, on the official PPSR certificate.
- Can I check if a car is stolen by its rego?
- Yes. Enter the registration and the state it is registered in. We find the vehicle, show you enough of it to match against the car, and search on it.
- Does a free state rego check show if a car is stolen?
- Not reliably. It may show a cancelled registration, but it does not query national stolen records. That needs a PPSR search.
- How much is a stolen car check?
- $5.95 here by rego, including money owing and write-off status, with the official certificate. Seeing which vehicle it is comes first, and is free.
- What should I do if the car is recorded as stolen?
- Do not pay anything, including a deposit. Keep the certificate, and report the car and the listing to police.
- Can I get my money back after buying a stolen car?
- Not from the police or the owner. The car is returned to its owner, and your claim is against the seller, which is often impossible to recover in a private cash sale.
The longer story: How to check whether a car is stolen before you buy it in Australia